Foote



(No Model.)

A. P. TYLER.

MUTE FOR WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

No. 285,188. Patented Sept. 18, 1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AARON I. TYLER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO JJIIOVARD FOOTE, OFNEW YORK, N. Y.

MUTE FOR WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,183, datedSeptember 18, 1883. Application filed November 18, (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AARON P. TYLER, of Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inMutes for \Vind Musical Instruments, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my invention is to produce a mute for a wind musicalinstrument which shall subdue the tone of the instrument withoutinjuring its quality or changing its pitch.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the muteready for use. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a haltsection of the muteinserted in a ha1f-section of a cor net, showing its peculiarconstruction and adjustment; and Fig. 3, a thimble.

An ordinary bulb-mute has only one opening, which is at its neck. Vheninserted in the bell of the instrument, the exit of air is stopped off,except that which passes through grooves made in the sides of thepacking, which surrounds the neck andholds the bulb in place in thebell. The pitch of a cornet or similar wind-instrument is determined bythe length of the vibrating column of air which produces the tone. Thequality of tone is determined by the form of the bell and way of exitfor the vibrating air. Anything, therefore, that will change the lengthof the vibrating column of airwill change the pitch of the tone, andanything that will break the circumference of the column of air willimpair the quality of the tone. The character of the tone of theinstrument is determined by the form of the bell. The more flaring themore expressive or trumpet-like the tone. If the bell turns inwardinstead of outward, the greater the contraction the rounder the tone.

A musicinstrument should have the round tone or vox humana tone.W'iththe ordinary bulb-mute the column of air is simply more or lessstopped off and broken up, and the tone is impaired as to quality, forto produce a pure tone the entire circumference of the column must beunbroken. It will be readily seen that in the use of the ordinarybulb-mute a portion of the column of air is changed from the originallength of the instrument on account of the return in the bulb, whichequals the length of the bulb. WVith my improved mute I stop offentirely the exit of air through the ordinary flaring bell of theinstrument by means of the packing B, which entirely surrounds the neckof the bulb A,

tightly fitting the inside of the instrument. I make a hole, 0, in theend of the bulb for the exit of air, thus preserving the length of thecolumn of air, and therefore not disturbing the pitch. The curvedconstruction of the opening of the bulb gives the desired round and puretone, which is subdued according to the size of the opening (3. Thesmaller the opening the more subdued the tone. In order to adjust thebulb to produce diiferent degrees of power of the depressed tone, I provide the opening 0 with thiinbles E, having openings of different sizes,or I make the rim of the opening 0 otherwise adjustable as todimensions. To further depress the tone, I place over or within theopening 0, or the opening at the neck of the bulb, or both, a sieve ofper forated or porous material, as shown at C. \Vhen it is desirable todestroy the metallic tone of the bell, I line it withleather, cloth, orother suitable material.

lVhat I claim as my invention is- 1. A bulb-mute to be used in the bellof a wind musical instrument for subduing the tone, having an opening ateach extremity of the bulb, the opening at one extremity to re ceive thevibrating column of air, and the opening at the other extremity foremitting the tone, substantially as set forth.

2. The bulb-mute with one or both openings provided with a sieve ofperforated or porous material, substantially as specified.

AARON PARKER TYLER.

\Vitnesses:

G. L. CHAPIN, \V. B. TiionPsoN.

